That was a surprise, considering that it seemed most observers considered Gordon and Love to be the two best players this summer. Beasley played pretty well this summer also, but it wasn't as high-profile as Gordon, Mayo, Love and Rose. So I can't really say I agree or disagree.

So is Bill Walker still in the Top 10 (a surprise, that is). Mayo falling a few spots, not so much. Rivals gets kinda weird with their basketball stuff, though. I've always thought Scout is better for basketball. Rivals for football, though.

For whatever it's worth...I'm bored, so my Top 10. Obviously I haven't seen these guys play nearly as much (some of them no more than highlight packages, a couple of them I've seen in person, some of them I've seen full games of on the internet) as the guys at Rivals or Scout, so I'm just pulling this out of my ass, mostly.

1. Eric Gordon

Of course I'm biased, so don't bother telling me. But I'm not the only one saying this the last few weeks; with Rivals having him at No. 2, Bob Gibbons having him at No. 2 (behind Love), and several writers covering the Big Time Tourney touting him as possibly the new No. 1....it doesn't take much of a bias to put him here.

Gordon is, almost without question, the best scorer in the 2007 class, and will be the most dangerous freshman scorer in college basketball since Carmelo Anthony; his range, strength, athleticism and ability to finish stronger than most big men have drawn comparisons ranging from Mitch Ritchmond to (a more athletic) Randy Foye to Gilbert Arenas. Aside from being the best scorer in the class, may be the fiercest competitor, too; I've seen him play four times, and I've never seen him take a play off, which is astoundingly rare for a high schooler.

2. Kevin Love

I was skeptical of how high his ceiling was for quite some time, because of his relative lack of athleticism, and you could very much argue that no one on this list has a lower NBA ceiling. But he's reshaped his body to a certain degree and now makes some plays above the rim; he was already terrific before he was capable of that. He has polished scoring ability, both in the post and with the outside jumper, and will be a terrific rebounder in college from Day One, but the skill everyone raves about with Love is his passing ability. He's one of the best-passing big men in years, and is one of the few big men whose outlet passing in and of itself is a major difference-maker.

3. O.J. Mayo

His peak potential probably isn't as great as that of Derrick Rose, but he's a better scorer and is more polished with the ball in his hands. Despite his deep range and ability to leave pretty much any defender behind him, he's not quite as good of a scorer as Gordon, but is definitely a better ballhandler. If he played as hard as Gordon or Rose do 100% of the time, he'd still be No. 1. But the attitude problems he has, combined with his indifference to defense, makes it hard to still consider him No. 1.

4. Derrick Rose

Rose has the kind of explosiveness we haven't seen from a point guard in a long time. And make no mistake: he's a 100% pure point guard. There were questions about it his junior year, even as he led a less-than-stacked Chicago Simeon team to a state title, but any questions about whether or not he's a point guard were answered this summer. Want a comparison? Imagine Steve Francis...if he played with the mindset of Steve Nash. Whether he goes to Memphis, Illinois, or somewhere else, Rose is going to rank as one of the best point guards to ever come out of Chicago, right up there with Isiah Thomas and Doc Rivers.

5. Michael Beasley

He can play either the 3 or the 4 with no problem. He's just as willing to bang down low as he is capable of knocking down the outside jumper, and he's vicious on the glass. He's definitely one of the most versatile players in the 2007 class. The reason I don't rank him quite as high as Rivals does is that the little I've seen of him, is that despite him being capable of playing either forward, he's a little stiff and not astoundingly quick on the perimeter. Also, he reportedly tends to drift mentally, which isn't uncommon at this age, but it makes it easier to rank guys like Gordon, Love and Rose higher because they already have that mental toughness and willingness to go balls-to-the-wall the whole game.

6. Anthony Randolph

I love everything I hear about this kid. I just hope he doesn't do something stupid- ie, go to Memphis. (Then again, Derrick Rose is probably gonna do the same thing, so whatever.) The two things I keep hearing about him: 1) He's a Chris Bosh clone. 2)He has legit small forward skills at 6'10". And despite the fact that one contradicts the other somewhat, since Bosh isn't really a small forward....I think both are true from the little I've seen.

7. Jerryd Bayless

Possibly the second-best perimeter scorer in the class after Gordon. Bayless may actually be a little quicker than Gordon; he's an elite athlete with terrific range that will be an instant-impact scorer, be it for Arizona or Texas (and it seems like most people think he'll end up back at Arizona).

8. Kyle Singler

In an abstract way, he's somewhat comparable to Beasley in that he can play either forward and is one of the most complete players in the nation. In a more direct comparison, he's similar to Mike Dunleavy. Very smart player, very smooth- if not quite as explosive as these other guys- athlete, terrific shooter.

9. DeAndre Jordan

Here's another big Texan, like Randolph, I really like. He's a big (6'11" 240), strong, skilled post player who is the landmark recruit that Billy Gillespie needed in turning Texas A&M into a Big XII power.

10. Bill Walker

Walker's off-the-charts athleticism, almost by itself, warrants him consideration whenever talking about the top players of the 2007 class. But on top of that, he's very strong, around 220 pounds, and has a mean streak to his game. But while he is a good outside shooter, his overall game still needs a whole lot of refinement. If he has the work ethic to match his on-court intensity, I wouldn't bet a great deal against him.

hey thegame. i agree with u on eric gordon. I have been to most of his games this summer and he is crazy. im so glad he joined MSE instead of sticking with that indiana elite squad. Im going to post a derrick and an eric mix in the future. its good to see someone with good insight about high school basketball. do you attend many high school games? btw, went OFF at vegas.

im so glad he joined MSE instead of sticking with that indiana elite squad.

If it ends up convincing Derrick Rose to join EJ at Illinois, then it'll be one of the great moments in the history of my sports fandom.

Even if not, it had to have been amazingly fun to watch those two together, and I envy all who saw it. That's gotta be maybe the best backcourt in AAU history.

Quote:

Im going to post a derrick and an eric mix in the future.

I'd love to see it.

Quote:

its good to see someone with good insight about high school basketball.

If you meant me...I'm just a guy with an opinion, like anyone else. I don't have any special insight.

Quote:

do you attend many high school games?

Not a bunch or anything, but I try to make some trips to some games close by (I live in Champaign, right in the middle of St. Louis, Indianapolis and Chicago) every now and then. I'll definitely make my way to Indianapolis to see Gordon play at least once this season, and if Rose commits to Illinois (and maybe even if he doesn't) I'll probably try to make my way to a Chicago Simeon game as well. Plus, I'm sure I'll catch a few Champaign Central games- even though they're my alma mater's crosstown rival- because their star, Verdell Jones, is a big-time 2008 prospect.

I've followed Illinois high school ball pretty closely ever since I was 11 years old or so, and over the years I've seen a lot of great teams/players. KG and Ronnie Fields at Chicago Farragaut; Frank Williams, Sergio McClain, and Marcus Griffin at the legendary Peoria Manual dynasty (four straight state titles); Quentin Richardson and '98 Chicago Whitney Young team, easily my favorite high school team ever (saw them in person a few times; one of my best friends had a cousin at the school, made the trip up there with him and his dad a few times that season); Rich McBride and Andre Igoudalia at Springfield Lanphier; Dee and Shannon Brown at Proviso East (here's how tough the Illinois state tourney is: those two are two of the best Big Ten guards of the last decade, both McDonald's All-Americans, and they never even made the state tourney). It goes on and on.

Great state to grow up in if you're addicted to basketball, to say the least.

I guess if all that gives me any sort of insight...then I can say that despite all the great players I've seen, Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose are as good as any of them that I've seen as high schoolers.

And I include Garnett in that.

Quote:

No way Mayo is going to be held down to that position. He will regain no.1 by school years end.

Some people might still consider him the No. 1 player when the post-summer rankings come out. And they may not necessarily be incorrect in saying so.

It isn't that Mayo got worse, or anything. He's still an outstanding talent and a fine NBA prosect. It's just that when you compare him to Rose, Gordon, Beasley, etc....it just doesn't look like he's that far ahead, any longer. One of his biggest advantages over the field was his physical stature. Well, guys like Beasley, Love and Gordon, who Mayo wasn't that much more skilled than, have caught up physically; Love, in that he's gotten in better shape and is now quicker. Gordon, being a guy who was always a gifted scorer and an elite athlete, has physically developed into a bull-in-a-china-shop kind of guy. He's absolutely relentless. And then you've got Rose, who has always been more explosive than Mayo- though not as strong- has caught up with him skillwise in that he's developed into a 100% real point guard.

But what you have to keep in mind is...even though he's been a well-known name in the general sports consciousness for quite some time, it isn't like this is LeBron or Oden being supplanted at the top, at least purely in terms of basketball ability. For one, he's simply not as good as those two, which is no slight, because LeBron and Oden are two of the greatest prep prospects ever. For another, the 2007 class is awesome. Gordon, Rose, Love, Beasley, Walker, Randolph, Singler....these guys all have NBA star potential. Probably even more, too.

Gordon, Rose and Mayo are all better than any guards in the 2006 class- Lawson, Ellington, Collins, Scheyer, Henderson, Crittendon...any of them- and frankly, I think it's not even close.

Basically, the short version of everything I just said is this: if you follow high school ball/recruiting casually, you may be shocked, or you may think it's bull****, that Mayo is no longer considered the surefire No. 1 player in the '07 class.

But if you've been paying attention, then you aren't surprised to learn that many think Gordon, Rose, Love, and Beasley have caught up to him.

The '06 class was pretty good, but I believe the '07 class is the best since '02 (one of the best ever).

The 2006 frontcourt players- Oden, Durant, Hawes, Wright, etc- is one of the best groups of big guys in some time, but the guards, in my opinion, were fairly middle-of-the-road compared to other classes' top guards.

I don't know how far back you'd have to go to find a group of guards in one high school class to compare to O.J. Mayo, Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon and Jerryd Bayless.

The '06 class was pretty good, but I believe the '07 class is the best since '02 (one of the best ever).

The 2006 frontcourt players- Oden, Durant, Hawes, Wright, etc- is one of the best groups of big guys in some time, but the guards, in my opinion, were fairly middle-of-the-road compared to other classes' top guards.

I don't know how far back you'd have to go to find a group of guards in one high school class to compare to O.J. Mayo, Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon and Jerryd Bayless.

i agree,though i wouldnt say this guard class is weak by any stetch, lawson,ellignton,henderson,crittenion, cook etc

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a weak group of guards; those guys can play. It's just that I don't think it's a particularly special group of guards compared to the top guys in other classes. Go back to 2002; you have Ray Felton, Rashad McCants, Dee Brown, Deron Williams, Jarrett Jack, Antoine Wright, Gerry McNamara, Brandon Roy, Randy Foye.....I mean, that's a special group of guards. Deep, too. Obviously it's just speculation, but I have a hard time seeing the '06 guards measuring up to that. Which is why I say I think they'll turn out to be a middle of the road group: not bad, but not particularly great, just somewhere in the middle.

Or even 2004, a really good class that I probably overlooked too quickly when saying that the '07 class is the best since the great '02 class; Shaun Livingston, Sebastian Telfair, J.R. Smith....I certainly don't think the 2006 guards measure up to that.

But of course, time will tell. Because who knows who from the '06 class will emerge from somewhat under the radar to become a superstar? For example, I pointed out Deron Williams and Randy Foye in the '02 class, but they were barely Top 50 recruits before becoming lottery picks and All-Americans.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a weak group of guards; those guys can play. It's just that I don't think it's a particularly special group of guards compared to the top guys in other classes. Go back to 2002; you have Ray Felton, Rashad McCants, Dee Brown, Deron Williams, Jarrett Jack, Antoine Wright, Gerry McNamara, Brandon Roy, Randy Foye.....I mean, that's a special group of guards. Deep, too. Obviously it's just speculation, but I have a hard time seeing the '06 guards measuring up to that. Which is why I say I think they'll turn out to be a middle of the road group: not bad, but not particularly great, just somewhere in the middle.

Or even 2004, a really good class that I probably overlooked too quickly when saying that the '07 class is the best since the great '02 class; Shaun Livingston, Sebastian Telfair, J.R. Smith....I certainly don't think the 2006 guards measure up to that.

But of course, time will tell. Because who knows who from the '06 class will emerge from somewhat under the radar to become a superstar? For example, I pointed out Deron Williams and Randy Foye in the '02 class, but they were barely Top 50 recruits before becoming lottery picks and All-Americans.

On the contrary , I think the 06 gaurds do measure up. They just aren't as profiled because of the new draft rules. I think Ellington, Paul Harris, Lawson, Cook (this guy is so underrated it's hilarious) and Augustine could have all been first rounders. Crittenton is going to get some rep out of GT, a great school for developing PG's. Plus this is the best big man class ever produced in a long time.